Listen in / as I share / three important money lessons / with you / today. // The first lesson I learned / was that I / was responsible / for my own financial success. // Why? // Because / my parents in the school system / weren't equipped in providing me / with the tools and resources / I needed to become / successful. // Did you know that according to LifeWorks, // that over half of Canadians have no emergency savings? // That's half the people / here in this room / and on Zoom. // Furthermore, / a survey by TD / shows that a third of Canadian parents aren't confident / that they're setting a healthy financial example / for their children. // As much as parents want to be good role models for their children, / many are struggling to figure things out themselves. // Even in our school system, // it's not mandatory to teach students about personal finance. // Raise your hand if you've ever taken a personal finance course in school. // Not very many. // Unfortunately, we are still a long way from implementing a proper curriculum / that will make a positive impact / on our future generation. // On top of that, according to Statistics Canada, / for every dollar of disposable income, / the average Canadian household / owes $1.77. // We've become a society / of being house-rich, / cash-poor, / all the while trying to keep up with the Joneses. // Add in rising interest rates / and inflation to the mix, / and you've got the perfect storm / of many families from coast to coast / who are trying to make ends meet. // In my household, / my father / was the only one who handled the finances. // I didn't get exposure on how he paid the bills, / but what he did give me / was a weekly allowance / of $20. // Yes, back then, / $20 could buy you lunch for the entire week. // And no, we didn't have an app for that to pay for things with the tap of our cell phone. // But this / helped me / learn how to manage my money / and decide how I wanted to spend it / or save it. // But it wasn't until I turned 16 / and started working at a coffee shop, / earning $7 an hour, / that I began to learn the true value of money. // If I wanted to buy a brand new pair of jeans, / I had to earn it myself. // At times, I had to choose between / going out to see a movie / with my friends / or buying a cool T-shirt. // As much as my parents wanted the best for me, / they couldn't afford to buy me all these things. // In hindsight, / it was a good lesson for me / to learn that I had to work X amount of hours / in order / to pay for certain things. // However, / what I didn't realize / was I was spending all the money I earned. // I wasn't thinking about the future. // I was just living in the moment. // Although I was making many money mistakes, / it was my first step / towards becoming financially independent. // That's why we need to look at that person in the mirror. // That reflection you see / is the answer / to who can help you be in control of your money. // If you don't want to end up being in debt or live paycheck to paycheck, / then today is the day that you start your financial blueprint that will set you up for success.